Chapter 9

The Kingdom Made Possible

To most
people the death of Jesus on the cross is the central
aspect of the Christian message, and you may have been
slightly surprised that in a book about the work of
Jesus his sacrifice has so far been barely mentioned.
The reason is that the death of Jesus on the cross was
the means to an end, not the end itself. But having
in previous chapters considered the objective, the establishment
on earth of the Kingdom of God in which immortal men
and women will experience perfect fellowship with their
Creator, we must now consider the means by which
that future has been made possible. We turn from our
picture of Jesus as the great and powerful king to see
Jesus the man, humble, loving, and giving his life for
the wellbeing of mankind.

What was it that his sacrifice achieved?

From the
very early times of man's existence on earth there has
been a barrier between him and his Creator. The Bible
calls that barrier sin, and the mission of Jesus
at his first coming was to make possible the removal
of sin and so unite God and man. This chapter examines
first what is meant by sin and how it originated, and
then we will consider the hard won victory of Jesus
by which the world can be saved from its effects.

WHAT IS SIN?

Alongside the golden thread of the Kingdom of God, the subject
of sin appears throughout the whole of the Bible, from
the early chapters of Genesis to the concluding ones
of Revelation. In between this beginning and end of
Scripture are

hundreds of references to sin. If we include related words such
as trespass, iniquity, and transgression, the number
of allusions to the general subject is multiplied, and
virtually every book of Scripture is found to mention
sin in one way or another.

If asked
What do you understand by sin?most people
would probably say that it is wrongdoing like stealing,
lying, or murder. In other words, sin is generally thought
of as being the more obvious errors of which man can
be guilty. However in Bible terms sin is much more comprehensive
than this. The word the inspired writers used was one
that signified deviation from a path, or missing a target.
An example is in the book of Judges where some warriors
are described as being able to sling stones at
an hair breadth and not miss(Judges 20:16). The
word translated miss is the same word that hundreds
of other times is translated sin.

This demonstrates
the idea behind the Old Testament use of the word sin.
It means to deviate from a path, to miss a mark that
is aimed at, or to fail to achieve something. This definition
makes sin much more widespread than most people realise.
The New Testament uses a similar definition:

For
all have sinned, and come short of the glory
of God

(Romans 3:23).

The glory
of Godmentioned here, from which all fall short,
is comprised not only of His physical presence, but
especially includes His perfect attributes. Moses once
said to God I beseech thee, show me thy glory
(Exodus 33:18). When this request was granted the divine
emphasis was on displaying His moral qualities:

And
the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The
Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering,
and abundant in goodness and truth .... and that will
by no means clear the guilty(Exodus 34:6-7).

That the
glory of God was primarily His moral qualities rather
than His physical presence was expressed by John when
speaking about Jesus:

We
beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth(John
1:14).

When Jesus
was on earth he did not show forth God's literal glory.
The way Jesus showed the glory of his Father was by
being a perfect reflection of God's character.
The glory of God is thus the sum of His virtues, such
as those considered in chapter 3. And according to Paul,
'coming short' of this glory-failure to reach such heights-is
sin. In view of this definition it is no wonder that
all have sinned.

This leads
us on to note further Bible words that describe sin.
In his letters John wrote:

All
unrighteousness is sin(1 John 5:17).

Sin is lawlessness(1 John 3:4 RSV).

You will
see that these express the same idea. We have already
considered God's righteousness and justice in chapter
3 and have seen that these terms describe His perfect
attributes. Man's unrighteousness, his failure
to live to this standard, is sin in the Scriptural sense,
even when apparently a good and blameless life is being
led. Similarly sin is 'lawlessness', a state of mind
in which a person does not accept the laws of God as
the rule of his life, and does not obey them.

Notice that
this is true even if a person does not know the attributes
or the will of God. People are guilty of sin even if
they have never heard of God's laws. There is nothing
unreasonable about this: even in our legal systems ignorance
of the law of the land is not a defence if a person
breaks that law.

But God has
also given man specific laws to keep: the Bible is full
of references to the things we should or should not
do. Those who know these commandments but who do not
obey them sin in a greater sense. This sin caused by
breaking a specific command of God is usually termed
transgression, or trespass. As the words
imply, this involves crossing over a line or
rule that has been laid down by God.

So it is
possible to be sinners for two reasons: first because
of general failure to attain to the characteristics
of God, and secondly because of actual transgression
of His laws by those who know them. Sin in the first
case can be regarded as a state or condition of any
person or society, and in the second the breaking of
specific commands of God by those who know God's will.

SIN IS UNIVERSAL

With such
a definition of sin it is far from surprising to find
that all mankind are guilty of it. We have already noted
the words of Paul: all have sinned, and
there are many other similar references:

For
we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that
they are all under sin(Romans 3:9).

The
Scripture hath concluded all under sin(Galatians
3:22).

The sin of the world(John 1:29).

Thus sin
could be said to be the 'Constitution' of the world.
In ordinary human systems of government each nation
has its Constitution by which it is governed, and every
person born into that country inherits that Constitution
whether he likes it or not. Similarly everyone born
on earth comes into a world where a tendency to sin
is ingrained into the very nature of man's being and
into every aspect of his society. So sin is said to
reignin all the affairs of man (Romans
5:21).

THE EFFECT OF SIN

Having been
born into an earth where sin reigns it is not easy for
us to appreciate the effect that sin has: it is so much
a part of human everyday experience that its results
are regarded as the normal run of affairs. In fact the
reign of sin has incalculable effects.

One result
is separation from God. Never having experienced the
closeness of the divine fellowship it may be difficult
for us to envisage the effect of its absence, but the
clear teaching of the Bible is that the presence of
sin raises a barrier between man and his Creator:

Your
iniquities have separated between you and your God,
and your sins have hid his face from you, that he
will not hear(Isaiah 59:2).

The
carnal mind(i.e. a mind in which sin reigns)
is enmity against God(Romans 8:7).

The earth
is a black spot in the universe. Throughout vast distances
of space God is at one with His creation for, as Jesus
said in his prayer, God's will is done in heaven; but
this is not true of our planet. Metaphorically speaking
God cannot look on the earth because of its sin:

Thou
art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not
look on iniquity(Habakkuk 1:13).

So if God
is to fulfil His plan to come and dwell among men in
the perfect Kingdom of God, it means that in some way
sin will have to be removed from the earth.

Another result
of sin is an earth cursed by suffering and death. Again,
death is such a normal experience that it is difficult
to think of it as the result of sin. But this is the
clear teaching of the Bible:

For
the wages of sin is death(Romans 6:23).

Sin,
when it is finished, bringeth forth death(James
1:15).

You may recall
the Bible prophecy quoted in chapter 2 which foretold
that when the Kingdom of God enters its final stage
there shall be no more death(Revelation
21:4), implying the abolition of the cause of
death, sin. So God's scheme for the removal of sin and
the reconciliation of the world to Himself is part of
the Bible's golden thread of the Kingdom of God. We
have already seen that forgiveness of sins was an aspect
of God's promise to Abraham, but to find the beginning
of the thread we must go back even further to the start
of the Bible. Here we learn how proneness to sin became
part of the very make-up of mankind and achieved its
dominance of the world.

THE ORIGIN OF SIN

In this section
I will regard the events in the Garden of Eden as having
actually taken place. This is the only view that a follower
of Jesus can take. He referred to Adam and Eve as historical
people, and the circumstances of the Fall as literal
happenings (Matthew 19:4-5); and the apostles who wrote
the New Testament did the same. The whole of the doctrine
of the atonement between God and man becomes incomprehensible
on any other basis.

The opening
scene of the Bible is a delightful one (Genesis 2).
The newly created pair lived in a beautiful country
park filled with a variety of ornamental and food bearing
trees. Streams and rivers watered this paradise of Eden
and there was nothing to mar the happiness of Adam and
Eve. Especially delightful was their association with
God. In a way that has not been revealed they communed
with their Creator, and in all probability He informed
them about Himself, educated them, and instructed them
in the principles of a correct way of life.

However from
God's point of view this arrangement had one drawback.
His purpose would not be satisfied merely by the act
of creating the world. We read in the Psalms that God
derives little pleasure from merely physical things:

He
delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh
not pleasure in the legs of a man

Real satisfaction
could only come when His creation responded to Him in
love. So the psalmist continues:

The
Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him
(Psalm 147:10-11).

This pleasure
was not satisfied by Adam and Eve's slavish obedience
as if they were robots. What brings pleasure and satisfaction
to God is when people who are faced with a choice deliberately
do what is right in order to please Him and show their
trust in Him. In other words God wants people of character.

With this
objective He devised a test of their allegiance. He
pointed out to the pair a special tree bearing appetising
fruit and told them that they were not to eat of it
or even touch it:

And
the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree
of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not
eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die(Genesis 2:16-17).

Adam listened
to these words with all the power of his God given understanding,
no doubt pondering their meaning and turning them over
and over in his mind. How many times the pair passed
near the tree, shrinking back from it lest they gave
offence to God and brought ruin on themselves, we do
not know. As yet nothing had occurred to tempt them
to disobey God. But one day, when Eve was alone, she
was approached by a serpent. The animal had some reasoning
ability and the power of speech, and it began to sow
seeds of doubt in the woman's mind:

Hath
God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

Her reply
showed that she fully understood God's command:

We
may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but
of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of
the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it,
neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die(Genesis
3:1-2).

The serpent
dismissed this out of hand. It was God trying to protect
His own position, he reasoned. If you eat this fruit
you will instantly become as wise as He, and wonderful
vistas of knowledge and understanding will be opened
to you. Certainly death is out of the question.

And
the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely
die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof,
then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as
gods, knowing good and evil(v4-5).

The woman
hesitated. Did this speaking serpent say the truth?
Was God hiding something that would be of benefit to
them? Was the threat of death just to prevent them sharing
His knowledge and wisdom? The implanted seed of doubt
began to grow: and with the fruit hanging enticingly
on the branches Eve's trust in God weakened and then
died. Stretching out her hand she plucked the fruit
and ate it. She found Adam and, no doubt after suitable
explanations, he shared the fruit with her.

In this way sin entered the world.

THE RESULT OF THE TRANSGRESSION

Think what
Adam and Eve had done. Their disobedience had not been
a little accidental slip or mistake, but was a deliberate
challenge to God. He had said that if they disobeyed
Him they would die. They said in effect We don't
believe you. God had revealed Himself to them
as their Creator and Instructor. They in their pride
sought for instant mental equality with Him. They had
set up their own will in defiant opposition to God's
will. They had challenged God's supremacy.

To a God
who is absolutely supreme and whose every thought and
action is wholly righteous this was a challenge that
could not be overlooked, or the threatened penalty of
death be rescinded. So, as we will see shortly, the
death penalty was pronounced on sinning man.

God's displeasure
was not shown immediately, giving the now sinful pair
time to take stock of their new position. The forbidden
fruit had done its work, opening their eyes to see things
in a different light from before (Genesis 3:7). Their
first realisation was that they were naked. Something
that before had seemed perfectly natural and innocent
now appeared shameful. Although they possibly did not
realise it at the time, their nakedness epitomised their
sinfulness. Feeling an instinctive need to cover themselves
they hurriedly sewed some large leaves of a nearby fig
tree into crude aprons and put them on. This was a very
significant act. They intuitively felt the need to cover
the results of their great sin. They could no longer
appear before God naked.

But the dreaded
confrontation could not long be delayed. As the sun
began to sink in the west Adam and Eve awaited their
customary talk with God. Then came the sound of the
voice that had been their life and joy but now froze
their heart with terror: Adam, where art thou?
But Adam was hiding among the trees, aware that his
hastily contrived covering was ineffective in concealing
his sin from God's gaze. He was no doubt conscious that
his transgression had separated him from his Creator,
and had destroyed the fellowship and communion existing
between them.

I
heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because
I was naked; and I hid myself.

Who
told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of
the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest
not eat?(Genesis 3:10-11).

Shamefacedly the guilty pair came out of their hiding place to receive
a just sentence upon their action. The three participants
were addressed in turn, and the overall message was
that whilst the immediate prospect was dark and foreboding,
there was a ray of hope that pointed to the removal
at last of the estrangement between God and man that
had just commenced.

THE SENTENCE ON ADAM

Adam's punishment
was to be a life of toil and hard work in trying to
produce food from an earth now cursed for his sake:
crops being grown only with difficulty and sorrow. At
the end man would die and return again to the dust from
which he was first created (Genesis 3:17-19).

This curse
was not confined to Adam only but embraced all his posterity.
They would inherit his sinful nature and so share the
penalty of sin. The New Testament comment on this is
very clear:

Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death
by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for
that all

have sinned(Romans 5:12).

This is a
convenient place to emphasise two points concerning
sin and its consequences. First, the Bible always attributes
sin's origin and continuation to man, and him alone.
No external agent can be blamed for man's predicament.
Man sins after he is drawn away of his own lust,
and enticed(James 1:14).

Secondly,
death, the punishment for sin, means the complete cessation
of being. The idea that at death an immortal component
of man continues a conscious existence is foreign to
Bible teaching. Death would hardly be a punishment if
that were so. Speaking to God, David says:

In
death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave
who shall give thee thanks?(Psalm 6:5).

Many other passages teach the same:

The
living know that they shall die: but the dead know
not anything(Ecclesiastes 9:5).

His
breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in
that very day his thoughts perish(Psalm
146:4).

But death,
though real in every sense, is not necessarily the end
of a person. There is a hope beyond the grave, as we
shall see as this chapter proceeds.

THE SENTENCE ON EVE

The theme
of pain and sorrow was continued in the punishment of
Eve. Her anguish was to come in the pains of childbirth
and also she was to occupy a subordinate position in
the relationship between man and woman (Genesis 3:16).

From this
recital of the punishments on Adam and Eve it would
appear that mankind was without hope. They had deliberately
flouted the laws of the Almighty God and set up their
will in opposition to His. He had warned what His response
would be, and was now justly bringing their sin to account.
Because of God's inherent justice, for Him to simply
forgive man would in this case be out of the question;
yet His love and mercy desired reconciliation. As we
saw at the end of chapter 3 God's justice and His mercy
seemed to be in opposition, and yet in His wisdom He
devised a way by which His love could be shown without
in any way compromising His justice and righteousness.
In His sentence on the serpent God gave a hint of His
plan.

THE SENTENCE ON THE SERPENT

Here the
first ray of hope appeared. As the one who had encouraged
Adam and Eve to sin the serpent was to be cursed: a
punishment that banished him to a lowly and despised
position in creation. But at the same time God promised
ultimate deliverance from the curse that the serpent
had helped to bring into the world. Addressing him God
said:

And
I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and
between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy
head, and thou shalt bruise his heel(Genesis
3:15).

Here is another
key verse of Scripture, and we again find that the fulfilment
was to involve the work of promised seeds. The
woman was to have a descendant and so was the serpent,
and there was to be enmity between them. The descendant
of the woman would inflict a head wound on the
serpent, the inference being that such a wound would
be fatal-the serpent would be killed. But in the course
of this conflict the serpent would give the woman's
descendant a wound to the heel-a non-fatal injury
from which the woman's descendant would recover.

A tabulation
of the phrases will help make clear these relationships
between the serpent (on the left) and the woman:

Thee
(the serpent)
at
enmity with
the
woman
Thy
seed
at
enmity with
her
seed
Thy
head
bruised
by
her
seed
Thou
shalt
bruise
her
seed's heel

These
are obviously figurative allusions. What do they represent?

THE SERPENT AND HIS SEED

The serpent
was the indirect cause of sin entering the world, and
so becomes a fitting figure of sin itself. Those whose
lives are ruled by sin are thus the seed of the
serpent. Serpents' childrenis a Bible description
of those who are opposed to God's way. Jesus addressed
the evil Pharisees as Ye serpents, ye generation
of vipers(Matthew 23:33), and on other occasions
referred to them with this passage in Genesis clearly
in mind (John 8:44). Thus the serpent, which
is to be destroyed by the seed of the woman,
is a personification of sin displayed in human
nature, and those in whom it is so displayed are the
'seed' of the serpent.

It is appropriate
to mention here that in the Bible sin in its opposition
to God is personified in other ways. Personification
is a frequently used figure of speech in which an abstract
idea is depicted as a person. Examples abound in all
literature and are readily understood:

Wisdom
crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets
(Proverbs 1:20).

A close examination
of the Scriptural use of such terms as 'the Devil' and
'Satan' will show that they too are personifications
of sin, rather than referring to a superhuman evil monster.

THE SEED OF THE WOMAN

The woman
was promised a descendant who would destroy the serpent,
that is, the power of sin. As with the 'seed' of Abraham
and the 'seed' of David, this promised person is Jesus.
In an allusion to the promise in Eden that the woman
would have a son we read in the New Testament:

But
when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth
his Son, made of a woman ....(Galatians
4:4).

In the well
known 53rd chapter of Isaiah the coming of
the one who would save mankind from the effects of sin
is clearly predicted. Here again the language reminds
us of God's promise in Eden that in the process of destroying
sin the seed of the woman would suffer a temporary bruising
at its hand:

He
was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised
for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace
was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed ....
and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all
.... Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him;
he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his
soul an offering for sin, he shall see his
seed .... by his knowledge shall my righteous servant
justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities
(Isaiah 53:5-6,10-11).

THE MAIN FEATURES OF THE PROMISE IN EDEN

A brief summary
may help fix in our minds the salient points of the
promise.

The punishment on man:

The earth would be cursed for his sake.

Life would be arduous and sorrowful.

He would die and return to dust.

All Adam's
descendants would be born with his sin-cursed nature
and likewise die.

The sentence on the serpent:

He (sin) would eventually be killed.

The punishment on the woman:

Pain in childbirth

Subjection to her husband

But-and
here is the promise of the removal of sin-her 'seed'
(Jesus) would kill the 'serpent' (sin) although
in so doing would receive a temporary wound.

COATS OF SKINS

As well as
speaking to Adam and Eve about the work of the woman's
seed to eventually reconcile God and man, God gave them
an object lesson of how sins could be forgiven. We have
already noted that immediately they had sinned, our
first parents realised their nakedness and attempted
to hide it by making aprons of fig leaves. This nakedness
had become a symbol of their sin and wearing the aprons
was tantamount to trying to cover sin by their own efforts-an
impossibility. Then God performed a very significant
act:

Unto
Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats
of skins, and clothed them(Genesis 3:21).

This action
taught Adam two things. First, mankind could not cover
sins himself, only God could do this. Secondly, the
skins must have come from a slain animal, teaching that
covering of sin could only come about by death. The
animal that by its death provided coats of skins, pointed
forward to the death of the seed of the woman in achieving
the covering of the sins of the world.

God emphasised
this to the next generation. When Adam's son Cain offered
fruit as a sacrifice to God he was rejected.
It was the equivalent of the fig leaves that God had
already indicated were useless in covering sin. His
other son, Abel, recognised the truth that forgiveness
could only be achieved by death, and his sacrifice of
a lamb was accepted.

In this way
the principles for human redemption were laid down at
the very beginning of man's history, and recorded in
Genesis so that all later generations could look forward
to the coming of the Redeemer who would die for the
sins of mankind.

JESUS THE SAVIOUR

Although the Old Testament teaching about the sacrifice of Jesus
is possibly not so well known, it is undoubtedly recognised
as a major aspect of the New Testament. The fact that
Jesus offered himself for crucifixion to atone for sin
is mentioned over and over again. When announcing the
birth of the Saviour the angel said:

Thou
shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people
from their sins(Matthew 1:21).

And the apostles
continually allude to the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation
with God that can result from Christ's sacrifice:

Christ
died for our sins according to the Scriptures
(1 Corinthians 15:3).

He
.... put away sin by the sacrifice of himself
(Hebrews 9:26).

While
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us(Romans
5:8).

We
have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins(Ephesians 1:7).

Having
made peace through the blood of his cross to reconcile
all things(Colossians 1:20).

You
.... hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death(Colossians 1:21-22).

His
own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree
(1 Peter 2:24).

Our
saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that
he might redeem us from all iniquity(Titus
2:14).

Why did the
world have to wait so long for its Saviour to come?
Why could not any man have sacrificed his life
and so effected the desired reunion with God? The answer
is that sacrifice of itself was not enough. It had indeed
to be the offering of a representative member of the
human race; but it also had to be the offering of
one who had never sinned. Jesus was the only
one who could meet these two requirements.

JESUS SHARED OUR HUMAN NATURE

I have already
alluded (p.103) to the unique parentage of Jesus. Because
of his begettal by the Holy Spirit he was the Son of
God, but because of his human mother he was also Son
of Man-the man Christ Jesus(1 Timothy
2:5). The Bible makes it plain that Jesus possessed
the same physical nature that all the rest of mankind
had inherited from Adam, and was subjected to the same
temptation to sin:

Forasmuch
then as the children were partakers of flesh and
blood, he also himself likewise took part
of the same; that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is, the devil
(Hebrews 2:14).

Wherefore
in all things it behoved him to be made like
unto his brethren(Hebrews 2:17).

Note in both
these quotations the repeated emphasis of the fact that
Jesus was a true representative of the human race: also,
himself, likewise. It was something
Paul needed to stress. To reverse the Scriptural phrase,
calling Jesus God the Son(a term never
found in the Bible), and giving him a physical nature
different from our own, is not only incorrect but makes
impossible an understanding of his redemptive work.

JESUS WAS SINLESS

However,
although Jesus had the same temptations to sin as the
rest of mankind he was able completely to overcome the
enticements that caused others to fail, with the result
that he never once sinned. On no occasion did
Jesus ever fall short of the glory of God.
Never once was he disobedient to God's will. He could
truly say I always do those things that please
the Father. This great achievement is frequently
mentioned in Scripture:

A
lamb without blemish and without spot(1 Peter
1:19).

Who
did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth
(1 Peter 2:22).

In him is no sin(1 John 3:5).

Which
of you convicteth me of sin?(John 8:46, RV).

For
we have not an high priest which cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all
points tempted like as we are, yet without sin
(Hebrews 4:15).

Christ's
complete victory over sin whilst possessing man's sinful
nature made his sacrifice a basis on which God could
forgive man's sin and bestow eternal life. But before
we consider this further, let us dwell on the greatness
of his achievement.

THE LIFE AND SACRIFICE OF JESUS

From his
earliest years Jesus devoted his life to his Father's
purpose to redeem mankind. The study of the Scriptures,
our Old Testament, was his constant occupation. From
them and by prayerful communion with his Father he prepared
himself for the role those sacred writings outlined
for him. When, at the age of thirty, he commenced preaching
the good news of God's Kingdom, the people saw in him
a man against whom no valid personal criticism could
be levelled: a man whose knowledge of the Scriptures
was unequalled, even by the aged scholars of the day:
and a man whose message was supported by miraculous
signs demonstrating that he was invested with the power
of God.

They acclaimed
him as the long awaited Messiah, and on at least one
occasion tried to force him to become their king in
the belief that the promised blessings would follow.
But Jesus knew that the kingship would have to await
his second coming, and tried to prepare his listeners
for his death, which was similarly foretold by their
prophets of old.

All this
time Jesus incurred the increasing hostility of the
religious leaders of the Jews, until the 'enmity' between
the 'seed of the serpent' and the 'seed of the woman',
predicted so long before in the Garden of Eden, came
to its climax. Christ's personal integrity and his exposure
of their hypocrisy made his opponents jealous and vindictive,
and his judicial murder seemed the only way to silence
him. With the rulers' knowledge of their countrymen
it was comparatively easy to swing public opinion against
Jesus, and within the space of a few short days the
crowd who had feted him on his arrival at Jerusalem
was clamouring for his crucifixion.

We must remember
that Jesus had the power to prevent all this. He could
have forestalled the actions of the Scribes and Pharisees
at every turn. As he said at the time of his arrest,
he could have summoned more than twelve legions of angels
to his defence. But such action would have prevented
the divine scheme of human reconciliation, as he went
on to say:

But
how then shall the scripture be fulfilled, that thus
it must be?(Matthew 26:53-54).

Jesus knew
from his study of those Scriptures that the serpent
had to bruise the heel of the seed of the woman, and
so he voluntarily submitted to his arrest and
the pain and ignominy that lay ahead. He could have
drawn back from that humiliation and suffering, or he
could have defended himself at his trial so that an
acquittal was inevitable. But instead he went forward
to the cross of his own free will, the only compulsion
being his own overwhelming desire to be obedient to
his Father's will, and his fathomless love for his friends.

A Roman crucifixion
was a terrible ordeal. After the priests had blackmailed
Pilate into passing the death sentence, Jesus was scourged.
This was thirty nine lashes on the bare back with a
bone studded whip. With his back raw and bleeding he
was led away to the soldiers' barrack room where, having
heard of his claim to kingship, they pressed a circlet
of thorny twigs on his head as a substitute crown. They
then dressed him in royal robes and knelt before him
in mock homage. It was the custom to force the prisoner
to carry the instrument of his own death, and so the
cross was placed on Christ's sore back and he was guided
out of the city for crucifixion. At the appointed spot
the cross was laid on the ground and Jesus fixed to
it with heavy nails. It needs little imagination to
sense the searing pain as the cross was roughly lifted
upright and dropped into its socket in the ground.

And for six
hours the only morally perfect man who had ever lived
hung there in agony, surrounded by the triumphant and
taunting priests. Looking at the inscription above his
head, 'The King of the Jews', they said in sneering
tones:

Let
the Christ the King of Israel descend now from the
cross, that we may see and believe(Mark 15:32).

The thoughts
of Jesus as he hung on the cross, and the events of
that sad day were recorded in advance in the Old Testament:

I
am poured out like water, and all my bones are out
of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the
midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a
potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou
hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have
compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed
me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell
all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part
my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture
(Psalm 22:14-18).

Reproach
hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness:
and I looked for some to take pity, but there was
none; and for comforters, but I found none. They gave
me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave
me vinegar to drink(Psalm 69:20-21).

Yet even
in such bodily and mental agony the Saviour of the world
remained faithful to his Father's will. Not a rejoinder
passed his lips or an angry thought went through his
mind as he retained his sinlessness to the last. And
as he felt his strength ebbing away he knew that he
had won the battle. Thus it was with a glorious sense
of triumph that he cried out with a loud voice It
is finishedand then lapsed into the sweet unconsciousness
of death.

In this way
that Jesus of Nazareth became the Saviour of the world.
This was the price that had to be paid so that God and
man could be reconciled and God's ultimate destiny for
His creation could be achieved.

HOW WAS CHRIST'S SACRIFICE EFFECTIVE?

In trying
to understand why Jesus had to die on the cross to remove
sin we approach the limits of our mental capacity. The
plan of salvation belongs to the One who says As
the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways
higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts
(Isaiah 55:8-9). In the face of such superiority we
must accept without question that the death of His son
was the only way for God's purpose to be achieved. A
wholehearted belief in this fact is the essential requirement,
even though the reason for Christ's sacrifice is not
fully understood.

Yet Scripture
gives some insight into the reasons why Christ's death
was effectual in obtaining forgiveness of man's sins.
Although a lifetime's study would not suffice to understand
all aspects, some of the divine principles involved
can be gleaned from a reverent inquiry into God's word.

A common
explanation of the work of Jesus likens mankind to a
condemned man awaiting execution. A friend comes forward
and offers himself as a substitute for the criminal,
is accepted, and dies instead of the guilty man. So
God accepts the death of Jesus instead of condemned
mankind. But this idea that Christ suffered a penalty
instead of those who deserved it does not fit with the
facts of the case or with Bible teaching. Reason tells
us that if Christ died instead of us we ought
no longer to die, which we do. But especially is the
substitutionary idea incompatible with what God has
revealed. Paul describes the death of Jesus as a declaration
of the 'justice' and 'righteousness' of God; whereas
the killing of an innocent man instead of a guilty one
would appear to be a travesty of justice.

So with reverence
we ask what happened on the cross that enabled God to
forgive man's sins? Why was the position different after
the death of Christ from what it was before the crucifixion?
In seeking Bible answers to these questions we begin
to see the way by which God in His infinite wisdom devised
a means of maintaining His righteousness and supremacy
that required that men should die for their sin, but
at the same time opened a way by which sins could be
forgiven. In other words He became a just God
and a Saviour(Isaiah 45:21).

The Bible
contrasts what Adam did with what Jesus achieved. In
Eden Adam disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit.
He thus challenged God's supremacy, putting his own
will in opposition to God's will. We are also told
of an incentive to his defiance. Your eyes shall
be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and
evilwas the temptation by the serpent. This possibility
of seizing equality with God was one of the enticements
to disobedience the unhappy pair received. Such disobedience,
containing a challenge to the very sovereignty of God,
could not go unpunished. Death was pronounced as a punishment
for Adam's sin, and all his descendants have similarly
died, because they all have sinned.

Now contrast
this with the situation on the cross. Jesus offered
himself as a man who was truly representative of all
Adam's fallen race, with identical temptations to sin:
yet he never gave way to them. So, unlike Adam who did
his own will, Jesus subordinated his will completely
to God. It was prophesied of him in the Old Testament:
Lo, I come to do thy will, O God
(Psalm 40:6; Hebrews 10:7). And he summarised this aspect
of his mission when he said that he came not to
do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me
(John 6:38). Thus Jesus, unlike disobedient Adam, was
completely obedient to God: though he were
a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which
he suffered(Hebrews 5:8).

There is
another contrast between Adam and Christ. We have seen
that Adam sought equality with God by grasping
and eating the fruit of the forbidden tree. But Jesus,
although God's own Son, did not attempt this. Paul tells
us that he did not count equality with God a thing
to be grasped .... and became obedient unto death, even
death on a cross(Philippians 2:7-8 RSV).

Furthermore,
in Eden death came as a God-inflicted and just punishment.
By contrast Jesus voluntarily sacrificed his
life: and by this deliberate act acknowledged that God
was right in originally demanding the penalty of death
for sin.

So, in whatever way Adam had failed, Jesus succeeded.

What, then,
did the Cross achieve? It vindicated God's position.
It declared Him to be righteous. This is the explanation
given by Paul that we must now examine.

THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD

Commenting on God's scheme of redemption Paul says in one of the
most definitive passages about the death of Christ:

But
now the righteousness of God .... is manifested ....
even the righteousness of God which is by faith of
Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe
.... For all have sinned, and come short of the glory
of God; being justified freely by his grace through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath
set forth to be a propitiation (i.e. a covering for
sin) through faith in his blood, to declare his (God's)
righteousness for the remission of sins that are past
.... to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness:
that he might be just, and the justifier of him which
believeth in Jesus(Romans 3:21-26).

Several points
come out of a careful perusal of these words. First
we note that four times in this passage the sacrifice
of Jesus is regarded as a declaration of the righteousness
of God. Then we read that the result of this declaration
is the forgiveness of sins. We are also told
that this forgiveness and justification is available
to those who believe in Jesus and have faith
in what his shed blood achieved.

Here we have
the clues to an understanding of what Christ's sacrifice
accomplished. Once the righteousness of God had been
demonstrated, then forgiveness could be available to
those who believe in Jesus.

So we ask,
in what way was the crucifixion a declaration of the
righteousness of God? Look at it like this. Jesus was
a mortal descendant of Adam, and in every sense a true
representative of the race, but he was sinless. Was
it then right that such as he should die? Was God being
righteous in requiring the death of even a sinless man?
By his public and voluntary offering Jesus declared
the justice of this. He said in effect God was
right to have punished Adam and his descendants. This
is how condemned human nature should be treated.

What was
the effect of this public declaration? With God's supremacy
and justice acknowledged on the Cross, the situation
in Eden was reversed. Whereas God's supremacy was once
challenged and his righteousness impugned, now His
justice was publicly demonstrated. On this new basis
God offers forgiveness; not to all, but to those who
identify themselves with that sacrifice. This will require
further elaboration, but suffice it to say at this point
that those who believe in Jesus will themselves
be made righteous, even as God is righteous:

....
be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be
sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him
(2 Corinthians 5:21).

So unrighteous
and sinful man will be accounted righteous by God if
he believes on Jesus, with all that belief involves.
Thus the penalty in Eden can be reversed.

RAISED AGAIN FOR OUR JUSTIFICATION

There is
another aspect to consider arising out of Christ's sinlessness.
Because death is the punishment for sin, and Jesus never
sinned, we read that it was impossible for death
to keep its hold on him(Acts 2:24 NIV). In the
sentence on the serpent it was foretold that the woman's
Seed in killing sin would himself suffer a temporary
wound. So Christ's death proved to be only temporary.
God raised him from the dead.

The resurrection
of Jesus is an essential aspect of the redemption that
he achieved. By his resurrection the benefits of his
sacrifice are made available to the believers. Speaking
of the righteousness available through Jesus, Paul says
that it will be imputed to all who:

Believe
on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
who was delivered for our offences, and was raised
again for our justification(Romans
4:24-25).

The resurrection
of Christ is therefore essential to a believer's salvation:

If
Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are
yet in your sins(1 Corinthians 15:17).

With the
whole picture of God's purpose with the earth in our
minds we can see the truth of these words. God's plan
could not be completed without the resurrection of Jesus.
The risen Jesus now has the essential role of being
our mediator in heaven (Romans 8:34; 1 Timothy 2:5;
Hebrews 4:14-15), and God for his sake forgives the
sins of the believer. Also the eternal life made possible
by Christ's sacrifice will be given at his return to
the earth. A Jesus that remained in the grave could
not be a mediator and redeemer.

The result
of this loving sacrifice of Jesus will be the establishment
of complete fellowship between man and his Creator when
the Kingdom of God is finally established on earth.
Death will at last be banished completely and the barrier
to God dwelling with men removed. How we should share
the ascriptions of thanksgiving, praise and adoration
that will be given to the one who by his death made
it all possible and who, excepting God Himself, has
become the greatest being in the whole universe:

Worthy
is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches,
and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and
blessing .... for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed
us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue,
and people, and nation(Revelation 5:12,9).

THE GRACE OF GOD

In these
days when the 'rights' of man are the subject of a lot
of comment and argument it is worth noting that as far
as his redemption is concerned man has no 'rights' whatever.
If God had chosen not to save man no one could have
raised a valid objection. But arching over all the Bible
teaching about man's salvation is the fact of God's
grace toward fallen man. Grace is unmerited favour,
and God has shown this in abundant measure in that While
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us(Romans
5:8). The whole of His plan is an evidence of His love
toward a fallen race that is completely unable to help
itself. How thankfully the New Testament writers acknowledge
this! Speaking of Jesus Paul says:

In
whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins, according to the riches of his grace
(Ephesians 1:7).

That
as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace
reign through righteousness unto eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord(Romans 5:21).

Truly, no
man or woman will ever gain the Kingdom of God by their
own efforts. Paul again reminds us of this:

Who
hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose and grace(2 Timothy 1:9).

FORGIVENESS FOR ALL?

So we ask:
now that Christ has died and God's righteousness has
been shown, does it follow that the entire human race
has been forgiven its sins? No. We have already seen
that forgiveness will be extended only to those who
believe on Jesus and what his death accomplished.
Many other passages teach this. Jesus said that his
Father

gave
his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life
(John 3:16).

Or as the Saviour again said:

He
that believeth in me, though he were dead,
yet shall he live(John 11:25).

It is necessary
for the sinner to acknowledge his sinful state, to look
at Jesus dying on the cross and in effect say: I
truly believe that you did this for me, and that
through your loving sacrifice all my sins can be forgiven
and I can be reconciled to God. And having become
a believer, there must be public confession of that
belief in Jesus, just as his declaration was public
on the cross. As Paul again says:

If
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved(Romans
10:9).

This topic
of the believer's response to the life and work of Jesus
is so vital that it merits a chapter of its own. But
before we leave the present one let me summarise the
Bible teaching about sin and its removal.

SUMMARY

In this chapter
we have seen that sin is firstly an inbuilt tendency
in man which prevents him from living acceptably to
God. Secondly it describes the act of those who know
the will of God yet break His commandments. The effect
of sin is alienation from God, the experiencing of evil
and suffering, and eventually death.

From the
Old Testament record, which has the support of all New
Testament writers, we learnt that sin and death entered
because of the disobedience of our first parents. But
whilst justly sentencing Adam and Eve, God promised
the coming of a descendant of Eve who would destroy
the power of sin.

Jesus was
this promised Saviour, and by his perfect life and loving
sacrifice on the cross made it possible for God to forgive
man's sins and so give him immortality in the Kingdom
of God, when the breach created in Eden will be finally
healed.

This forgiveness
is offered to those who first believe in the work of
Jesus and who then associate themselves with it in the
way God has prescribed.

Above all,
our studies in this chapter have a personal application.
Every one of us needs forgiveness of our sins and deliverance
from death, and we have seen how Jesus Christ can become
your Redeemer and mine.